I wanted to provide clarification on my 2nd paragraph.  I want to emphasize that my current and previous comments do not relate to issues of faith, but rather on safety, individual choice and institutional decisions.

My first concern about being "warned to understand that a male cannot touch one of these girls even if she is on fire" is what is the practical application of that?  In an emergency, do you provide assistance that you suspect the student would deny if they were able to give/withdraw consent, or do you go ahead and provide assistance?  The foundation of the answer to this question would be based on laws and institutional policies.  However, in life-and-death and even less serious situations, it is first necessary to determine the factual accuracy of someone's wishes.  This type of questions arises in hospitals with issues of resuscitation, any medical procedure for someone who cannot provide informed consent, etc.

My second thought is that if someone has specific wishes related to medical/safety assistance during emergencies, then how should that be handled?  First, I would think it would be the responsibility of the student/employee to make those wishes known, but the responsibility of the institution to say something like, "If you have special needs then inform us" because the student/employee may not know how to handle the issue (very likely if they are a student--I am speaking about this from experience with students with disabilities).  Second, if a student does have requests, not wanting to be touched by the opposite gender in Monona's example, then to what extent is it necessary to abide by them in an emergency?  The answer to that would, of course, depend on the request and may be something that requires other departments of the institution than just lab personnel.

Jafreen Sadeque
812-857-8461
jsadeque**At_Symbol_Here**iupui.edu

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From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] on behalf of Sadeque, Jafreen
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2014 4:24 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Body piercings on laboratory researchers working in a chemical laboratory.

Sorry, I was wondering about the "And just TRY to get them out of their sandals!"  Did one of your students who wears an abaya refuse to wear close-toed shoes instead of, what I am assuming, are open-toed flimsy sandals?  Could you explain their reservation with changing footwear?

Also, by whom were you warned that "a male cannot touch one of these girls even if she is on fire"?  Was it a female student in an abaya herself?  I ask because I am in the medical profession and have performed physical exams on people of different genders of different faiths.  To keep it simple, I am aware that on many issues, even things such as blood transfusions, what one person says members of a religion believe can be completely incorrect, and even those that observe a particular faith can have beliefs not representative or even considered acceptable by all members of their faith.

Jafreen Sadeque
812-857-8461
jsadeque**At_Symbol_Here**iupui.edu

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From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] on behalf of Monona Rossol [actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**CS.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2014 2:40 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Body piercings on laboratory researchers working in a chemical laboratory.

Oh thank you for covering this, Debbie.  This is all too true.  I consulted with Zayed University run by NYU at campuses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. And someone on this forum asked "why special rules for these people?"   Well, because these garments flow EVERYWHERE, not just a head scarf or sleave issue.  And just TRY to get them out of their sandals!   And you won't know they are wearing them.  And their vision can be restricted in some cases. 

 

I was warned to understand that a male cannot touch one of these girls even if she is on fire.  

 

And in my case, in addition to solvent painting and acid etching in printmaking, they wanted to do woodworking and welding.  Go figure.

 

Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist

President:  Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.

Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE

181 Thompson St., #23

New York, NY 10012     212-777-0062

actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com   www.artscraftstheatersafety.org

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Brandon S. Chance <bchance**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:25 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Body piercings on laboratory researchers working in a chemical laboratory.

Debbie, 

Below is a post from my previous life overseas addressing abayas and other culturally sensitive dress parameters while in the Middle East.

"As the lab safety manager for Texas A&M University at Qatar, I feel uniquely qualified to answer this question as at least 50% of our female students wear either the Burka or Hijab. I will briefly outline the PPE requirements we use for Organic Chemistry Laboratory (which I also used to teach here) below.

 

Basically, lab coats with elastic cuffs are required to secure loose sleeves from the abaya.  The Hijab or Burka is required to be securely tucked into the lab coat collar.  For those students that wear a Burka, we require them to wear a surgical mask in lieu of the facial covering (it basically covers the same amount as the Burka).  Of course goggles and closed-toed shoes are required.  In the 5 years I have been here, this has been the standard policy and we have not had any negative feedback.  Thus far, we have not had any students that insist on wearing the full face veil covering everything including their eyes.  Some wear this in the hallways, but have no problem removing it for lab courses (all of our courses are coeducational).

 

Another thing you may want to be aware of is male TAs or faculty responsibilities for the students.  I assume your lab instructors are trained to render basic first aid or deal with chemical spills on a student.  Due to religious sensitivities, if this is the case, it is a good idea for the instructor to ask for a female volunteer to act as a "helper" in emergencies as the male instructor will not be allowed to touch a conservative female muslim student.  It could be something as simple as the female volunteer applying a bandage or manning a  drench shower."

 

I also wanted to mention that in the case of Mechanical Engineering labs and machine shops, they wore coveralls in order to deal with the loose sleeve issue.

Brandon S. Chance, M.S., CCHO

Program Manager, Chemical Safety

Environmental Health and Safety

Princeton University

262 Alexander Street

Princeton, NJ 08540

609-258-7882 (office)

609-955-1289 (mobile)

609-258-1804 (fax)

"The second I feel like I made it, the second I feel like I've arrived, that's the second someone will take my spot. And I like my spot." J.J. Watt – Houston Texans

From: "Debbie M. Decker" <dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**UCDAVIS.EDU>
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Date: Monday, March 3, 2014 at 6:01 PM
To: "DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU" <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Body piercings on laboratory researchers working in a chemical laboratory.

I’d also be interested in anyone who might have a policy on flowing head scarves or wide sleeves on garments.

 

 

Debbie M. Decker, CCHO

Safety Manager

Department of Chemistry

University of California, Davis

122 Chemistry

1 Shields Ave.

Davis, CA  95616

(530)754-7964

(530)304-6728

dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**ucdavis.edu

 

Birkett's hypothesis: "Any chemical reaction

that proceeds smoothly under normal conditions,

can proceed violently in the presence of an idiot."

 

 

 

 

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Rupkey, Steven A.
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2014 1:33 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Body piercings on laboratory researchers working in a chemical laboratory.

 

Has anyone had to address the need for an ESH policy on prohibiting, permitting and/or limiting facial and/or body piercings on laboratory researchers ? 

 

Can you share you policies? 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Steve Rupkey, CIH

ESH-QA Safety Manager

ESQ Division

Argonne National Laboratory

9700 S. Cass Avenue, Bldg. 200/R-001

Argonne, IL 60439-4832

O: 630-252-1497

C: 630-383-9411

srupkey**At_Symbol_Here**anl.gov